Fun coming to Tuscaloosa Amphitheater

Fun, with special guest Tegan and Sara, will perform at 7 p.m. Sept. 16 at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater, 2710 Jack Warner Parkway, according to an announcement on the amphitheater's website.

By Mark Hughes CobbStaff Writer

TUSCALOOSA | The first announced act for the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater's 2013 season is Fun. That's Fun as in the indie-pop band. Fun will play Sept. 16 with opening act Tegan and Sara.Fun is one of the hottest pop acts of the moment, with soaring, anthemic pop hits “We Are Young,” “Carry On” and “Some Nights” all breaking Top 10 in the last year. Fun will be a featured performer at Sunday's Grammy Awards, where the band is nominated for Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “We Are Young,” and Best Pop Vocal Album for “Some Nights.”The trio actually began in 2008, created by singer-songwriter Nate Reuss after his band The Format broke up. He joined forces with multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost of Anathallo and singer-guitarist Jack Antonoff of Steel Train to create a power-pop confection. The band released its first single, “At Least I'm Not As Sad As I Used to Be,” and album “Aim and Ignite” in 2009. “Aim and Ignite” broke into the top 100 and received several good reviews for its clever pop gloss.But it was Fun's 2012 album “Some Nights” that broke the band into the mainstream. The album's first single “We Are Young,” featuring Janelle MonŠe, perched atop No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for several weeks, and became the first song to ever gain more than 300,000 downloads for seven weeks straight. It's appeared on TV shows including “Gossip Girl,” “90210,” “Glee” and “Chuck,” in commercials for Apple and Chevrolet, and in the trailer of Judd Apatow's movie “This is 40.” In addition to tours, Fun has appeared on “Saturday Night Live,” “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” The MTV Europe Music Awards and perhaps most importantly, in the September 2012 National Championship video for the Crimson Tide: “Some Nights” played under home videos of Tide fans watching the BCS championship game.Later in 2012, Fun cut an “iTunes Session” EP, with new versions of songs such as “Carry On,” along with a cover of Van Morrison's “Queen of the Slipstream.”Tegan and Sara is identical twins Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin, singer-songwriters from Calgary, Alberta, in Canada. They've cut seven studio albums and 13 singles, with gold albums in Canada, two of them in the Top 5 albums chart. Tegan and Sara's 2007 and 2009 discs “The Con” and “Sainthood” broke through to U.S. charts; the band has a new album out, “Heartthrob,” just released last week.The Monday Sept. 16 concert will be at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 6. Tickets will be $20, $29.50 and $39.50, available beginning at 10 a.m. Feb. 15, at www.ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster outlets, the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater box office, or by phone at 1-800-745-3000.